United States

MidAmerican buys into 300MW of AWEC projects

UNITED STATES: Warren Buffet-owned MidAmerican Energy has become the latest company to buy into Terra-Gen Power's Alta Wind Energy Centre collection of wind projects.

A Vestas V90 turbine under construction at AWEC

MidAmerican has agreed to buy the Alta Wind VII and IX projects totalling 300MW and has a power purchase agreement to sell the power to Southern California Edison. In total the centre comprises over 1.5GW.

The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The MidAmerican deal comes after Terra-Gen Power said it had closed a $650 million financing deal for the 168MW Alta Wind VII and 132MW Alta Wind IX projects.

The Alta VII and IX financings include construction and seven-year term loans, bridge loans to the ITC cash grants from the US Department of Treasury, and ancillary credit facilities.

In May 2011, Google invested $55 million investment in the Alta Wind Energy Center (AWEC) in California. The following month it increased its investment by $102 million.

The initial investment went towards building the 102MW Alta IV part of the development, while the additional funding went towards the 168MW Alta V.

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